Investigating the Evolution and Frequency of Persian Light Verbs Dâštan (Have), Amadan (Come), Avardan (Bring), Gereftan (Get), and Didan (See) from 1840 to 1940
Journal Title: Journal of Researches in Linguistics - Year 2020, Vol 12, Issue 1
Abstract
Abstract Persian light verbs have changed in terms of frequency of use in the course of time. The study of frequency changes of various common light verbs in the long history of Persian language seems reasonable, but the study of light verbs in the course of a relatively short period (a century) for the purpose of showing syntactic changes, can be a matter of significance. The present study deals with such topic. A diachronic study of the use of Persian light verbs in different periods sheds light on the processes leading to the formation of light verbs. In fact, studying the frequency of a number of light verbs during a century can lead to the discovery of how they turned into light verbs. Our purpose in this study is to analyze five Persian light verbs dӑštan (have), ӑmadan (come), ӑvardan (bring), gereftan (take) and didan (see) in five periods during a century (1220-1320 AH). In this study, 15000 simple and complex predicates, extracted from newspaper texts, have carefully been analyzed. In each period, the number of complex predicates based on type and token has been identified. This study shows that the light verb dӑštan has been regarded as the main light verb in the periods under study. This study also shows that the verb didan hasn't been used as a light verb in the last three periods, while it has been commonly used as light verb in the primary periods and has turned into a lexical verb in the course of time. This study also shows that the frequency of the mentioned light verbs during five periods indicates fluctuation; however, it is possible to reach a reasonable conclusion through a well-disciplined procedure. Key words: light verb, frequency, diachronic, type, token, predicate, Persian Introduction It is quite evident that the concept ‘verb’ denotes action and state at any rate in most languages. If we consider, for instance, the verb didan in Persian in the sentence [Ali film rӑ did. / Ali saw the film.], we find that the simple verb [did/saw], based on its semantic features, involves different arguments; in fact, this verb requires an external argument as "seer" (Ali) and an internal argument as "seen" (the film). Of course, this characteristic indicates the verb valence. Then, considering the verb [did] (saw) in the sentence [Ali ӑsib did./Ali was hurt], we find that the verb [did] is accompanied by a preverbal element "noun" and involves just the external argument and has become void of semantic content to a great extent; that is, its meaning is conceptually lightened. In fact, the light verb [did] acts as a verb maker in the sentence and, at the same time, cannot assign theta role to an internal argument and consequently dose not demand an internal argument. LVs are defined as constructions with a limited or even no semantic content, Brugman (2001); they have ever been challenging for linguists and linguistics theories. From the time, the term "light verb" was brought forth for discussion by Jespersen (1940), it has mainly been considered as a specific category and, unlike other linguistic categories, does not have the so-called syntactic and semantic features. Grammarians and linguists have different opinions about complex predicates; some are definitely sure of their being existent in Persian language and have begun to define them; some have doubts about their existence, and some others, in addition to defining them, consider them as having various kinds. Many Persian grammarians have paid considerable attention to the verb construction and have divided them into simple, prefixal and compound verbs. Homayun Farox (1958, 469-470) names some verbs having various concepts other than their real meanings; these verbs are accompanied by other preverbal elements such as [nouns, adjectives, adverbs] to make new complex predicates. He, pointing out the complex predicates as [qasam xordan ‘swear’, qebteh xordan ‘envy’, zamin xordan ‘fall’, etc.], states that the basic meaning of the verbal element in these complex predicates isn't intended; the intention is just to make a new verb which does not have a spontaneous existence in Persian. He is also of the opinion that it is possible to change intransitive verbs into transitive ones and vice versa with such LVs. Materials & Method In this article, five Persian light verbs including dӑštan (have), ӑmadan (come), ӑvardan (bring), gereftan (take), didan (see) in five periods during a century (1841-1941). To this aim, we search certain Persian newspapers published between 1841- 1941. For the five periods we searched serial newspapers VAQAYE- ETFAGIYE (1831s), AKHTAR (1851s), TARBIYAT (1871s), SOORO-E ESRAFIL (1891s) and CHEHRE NEMA (1911s) respectively. Three thousand verbs were randomly extracted and recorded. Then, all light and lexical verbs were analyzed by a software called Ant Conc. First, simple light and lexical verbs are analyzed. Then complex predicates will be carefully analyzed. Table one compares the light verbs dӑštan (have), ӑmadan (come), ӑvardan (bring), gereftan (take), didan (see) with respect to their frequency during the five distinct periods. The light verb dӑštan (have) is the most frequent in all five periods. Its frequency is 104, 80, 120, 105, 107 times in the five periods respectively. dӑštan alone accounts for at least %56 of light verb uses in each period. In the first and second periods dӑštan is more frequent than other light verbs in complex predicates. The second rank in use is for ӑmadan whose frequency is 54, 26, 31, 20 and 21 respectively. The third light verb under study is the verb ӑvardan (bring), which, with respect to its usage frequency and rank, shows a decreasing trend as having 25%, 16%, 15%, 10% and 11% occurrences respectively from the first to the last period. The fourth light verb under study is the verb didan (see) which has been mainly used as a lexical verb. The last verb under study is the light verb is gereftan (take) with the occurrences of 6%, 10%, 11%, 16% and 13% respectively from the first to the last period, has almost changed to a light verb. The data in table (1) indicate that this verb has proved to be a lexical verb in the first and second periods, then from the third period onwards, it has formally changed into the light verb. Conclusion In this article, about 60 complex constructions consisting of the LVs dӑštan (have), ӑmadan (come), ӑvardan (bring), gereftan (take), didan (see) along with their preverbal elements, extracted from different newspapers, have been carefully investigated in the course of five periods in a century (1841-1941). This research shows fundamental differences among these light verbs in relation with their usage frequencies, in a way that the light verb dӑštan (have) accounted for having the highest usage frequencies within these five periods as a whole, devotes nearly two third of all the complex predicate constructions to itself. The next light verb standing the second rank, is the LV ӑmadan (come) which can be regarded as devoting more than %16 of all the light verbs to itself. Then the light verb ӑvardan (bring), which is regarded as devoting more than 14% of all the complex constructions to itself. The LV gereftan (take), devotes more than 12% of all complex construction to itself. The LV verb didan (see) has devoted only %.2 of usage to itself within the century under study; this shows that the LVs didan (see) hasn't been really recognized as formal light verb in the course of these periods under study.
Authors and Affiliations
Bahador Zafarabadi PhD Candidate, Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran zafarabadi44@gmail. com Jalal Rahimian* Professor of Linguistics, Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran *Corresponding author, email: jrahimian@rose. shirazu. ac. ir
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- EP ID EP705237
- DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.22108/jrl.2020.120716.1435
- Views 56
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